Pedagogical innovation in Danish vocational education and training

Transcription

1 Pedagogical innovation in Danish vocational Søren P. Nielsen Project leader and researcher, Danmarks Erhvervspædagogiske Læreruddannelse (DEL), Copenhagen This article aims to present the framework of and methods applied in the pedagogical innovation process in Danish VET. The focus is on the pedagogical innovative capacity of the VET system, particularly the infrastructure created to support a renewed dynamism. This limitation means that specific examples of innovative projects will not be examined in the context of this article. The logic of presentation is as follows: firstly a broad introduction is given to the specific Nordic tradition of pedagogical research and development work. Secondly some basic structures and functions in the Danish VET system are described, and finally a critical assessment is made of how and to what extent the Danish model of pedagogical innovation affects innovation in and the development of training schemes. Some broader assessments of how the Danish VET system works will be included along the way. Formulation of VET methods in the Nordic region The concept of pedagogical study in vocational in the Nordic context encompasses both broader vocational problems and pedagogical problems and teacher training courses. It is thus a very broad concept. Pedagogical R&D work plays a very major role in the Nordic tradition for the development of vocational education and training. But what is understood by R&D? The term R&D can have two meanings: 1) research, experiment and development and 2) experiment and development. This distinction between research and R&D - and in general between scientific research, applied research and R&D - is important, not least in comparisons between European and Nordic countries. This must without doubt be seen in connection with the fact that VET research in other western European countries represents an independent and major area of research with its own university institutes, chairs, doctorates and Ph.D. students. This is not the case in the Nordic countries, where semi-academic VET institutes have largely had the field to themselves, and where the demarcation between research and experimental and development work has not played such a great role. However, the distinction is certainly not devoid of problems, and overall there is a marked need for actual VET research in all the Nordic countries. There are also occasional conflicts and problems with the demarcation between the line of research /university researchers and the line of development /vocational trainer teachers in connection with major knowledge-based development and evaluation projects. However, it must again be emphasised that it is a characteristic feature particularly of Danish tradition that pedagogical innovation to a large extent proceeds through R&D work locally in the institutions, in contrast to other European countries, where scientific approaches weigh far more heavily.1,2 The Danish vocational education and training (VET) system can be described as a cultural bridgehead between the European dual apprentice systems and the school-based models of the Nordic countries. The system is a further development of the apprenticeship principle, and there is more theoretical teaching (more time spent in school) in the Danish VET system than in German VET schemes, and conversely far more practical in-company 49 This article aims to present the framework of and methods applied in the pedagogical innovation process in Danish VET. The focus is on pedagogical innovative capacity, particularly the infrastructure created to support a renewed dynamism. The logic of presentation is as follows: firstly a broad introduction is given to the specific Nordic tradition of pedagogical research and development work. Secondly some basic structures and functions in the Danish VET system are described and put into perspective by contrasting the Danish system with the German dual VET system and the Swedish school-based VET system. And thirdly a critical assessment of Danish innovation strategy as a tool for developing the VET system is undertaken. Some of the critical remarks expressed in the OECD examiners report of 1994 are considered at the end of the article. 1) For an overview of the Nordic R&D field, including the key institutions in this area, see Nielsen, Søren P., Kortlægning af nordiske yrkespædagogiske FoU-miljøer (Survey of Nordic R&D groups in vocational education and training), TemaNord 1994: 659, Nordic Council of Ministers. The line of development dominates in this survey. 2) An equivalent survey based on requirements for scientific rigour in the research of the institutions has been undertaken by Kämäräinen, Pekka, Identification of Cooperation Potentials in Vocational Education and Training Research in the Nordic Countries,, 1995.

2 The concept of vocational methods in the Nordic context covers both broader vocational education and training problems and teaching method problems and teacher training courses. It is thus a very broad concept. Pedagogical R&D work plays a very major role in the Nordic tradition for the development of vocational. The Danish vocational (VET) system can be described as a cultural bridgehead between the European dual apprentice systems and the schoolbased models of the Nordic countries. The interaction between school and firm, learning on the job and the role of the labour-market parties in vocational training courses are (...) major task areas in Denmark for the pedagogical innovation effort in VET 3) But this not a solely Danish experience, cf. Mallet, L.: Vocational Education and Training. Research Structures and Community Orientation., training than in the Swedish system, for example. Practical training in Sweden has been increased with the new upper secondary-school reform, but workplacelocated education in Sweden is not practical work as the firms here take on an educational task controlled by the school s syllabus and subject to educational logic; Swedish firms thus have to make trained instructors available at the workplace. The workplace-located part of VET is considerably smaller in Sweden than in other countries, including the Nordic countries - 15% of teaching time compared with between 60 and 75% in Denmark. A large part of the training in apprenticeship schemes which take place in many countries is given at a single workplace. The trainees/apprentices in dual systems of this kind receive the whole of their vocational at the same workplace, which means that they take part in production, subject to production logic, and gain in-depth knowledge of and aptitude in mastering the skills currently needed in the social environment of this particular firm but little other insight into the future development of the sector. The school part in Danish alternancebased training courses seeks to iron out this problem. Although there are great structural differences between the Nordic VET systems, there are also many areas where the content is identical. Lennart Nilsson, a lecturer in vocational teaching methods at Akershus College in Oslo, has argued that there is a genuine Nordic model for vocational instruction, which is common to the five Nordic countries. The model comprises three parts: a) a practical part: working techniques, b) a vocational theory part: specialist theory, and c) a general educational part: general subjects. The three parts have equal status in the overall occupational profile which is the qualification goal of the instruction. However, the difficulties consist in developing the pedagogical approach so that the elements can be learnt as a whole. The greatest progress according to Nilsson has been achieved in Denmark, in real experiments in carrying out totality-oriented vocational instruction which from the point of view of the learners allows for close content-based integration between the practical part, the specialisttheory part and the general educational part of the Nordic model. The VET system has been greatly decentralised in Denmark since The basic vocational training schemes are organised as alternance-based courses with alternating school and in-company periods. The labour-market parties play a dominant role in the development of technical training courses through what is known as technical self-management. The field of R&D thus becomes broader than pedagogical, school-related projects. The interaction between school and firm, learning on the job and the role of the labour-market parties in vocational training courses are therefore major task areas in Denmark for the pedagogical innovation effort in VET. There is only one training institution for vocational school teachers, Danmarks Erhvervspædagogiske Læreruddennelse (DEL). DEL is not organised as a higher educational institute with the right to conduct its own research, and has instead set up its own research department, which undertakes contract research. DEL s many R&D activities in vocational pedagogical studies are also supported, however, by public funds through an annual grant under the Finance Act. It is felt in Denmark that the broad field of research encompassed by vocational and labour-market training courses cannot be covered by one institution. DEL has therefore set up a network of other higher education institutions whose focus lies in different areas, and where major tasks are tackled and solved jointly.3 The vocational education and training system in Denmark There are two main types of vocational training courses in Denmark, based on legislation from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour. The Ministry of Education is responsible for the ordinary vocational training system for young people (and since 1992 for adults as well); this system is organised as a dual apprentice training system. The vocational training courses are offered by 58 technical

3 schools and 50 commercial schools, which also offer vocational upper-secondary school training courses lasting three years. The continuing training courses are mainly offered under the Open Education Act of It is also striking that Denmark differs from the other Nordic countries with regard to the position of the VET courses in the total configuration of youth training schemes. Whilst the other Nordic countries, to a quite high degree organisationally, have put into practice 12-year schooling for all - the videregående skole in Norway, gymnasieskolan in Sweden, combination studies in Finland, with increasing individualisation and flexibilisation within existing, familiar educational structures - it is notable that the differentiation of has increasingly been systematised in Denmark: as a result of a number of new legislative initiatives to increase flexibility in the nineties ( Bridge building, Education for all etc.), students can choose between a number of different forms of school and traditions which they can combine in a multitude of ways, and they can vary quite substantially the time a training programme is to take. To sum up, the Danish youth education and training system can be characterised as still showing the marks of two main traditions: the Latin school, in the form of a modern three-year optional upper secondary school (gymnasium), and apprenticeship in the form of a vocational training system based on the principle of the dual system. There is also a plethora of free schools which also offer vocationally oriented instruction. There is a tradition in Denmark of great diversity in the system of, based on a Grundtvigian free-school tradition, which means that the users are assured of free choices and that the market mechanism regulates the allocation of public resources, depending on how the students vote with their feet. For historical reasons, training schemes for semi-skilled workers and the continuing training of skilled workers and technicians come under the Ministry of Labour (the labour-market training or AMU system). The purpose of the AMU courses is to maintain, develop and improve the qualifications of the workforce by offering courses which meet the current needs of firms, individuals and society. A large number of short, specialised and modular-structured courses are offered by the 24 AMU centres, the activities of which are controlled by the Labour Market Board (AMS). It is characteristic that the labour-market parties play an extremely large role in the control and development of both systems. The structure of the VET system is chiefly illustrated below.4 The dynamics of innovation in vocational education and training The 1991 reform of vocational education and training gave fresh impetus to the potential for innovation in structural, content-related and pedagogical development. This is borne by three elements of the VET reform in particular: decentralisation and increased market control, control by the labour-market parties and the upgrading of the priority given to pedagogical R&D effort in the interaction between the decentralised units (the vocational schools) and the central level. Management by objectives and frameworks was introduced in 1991 in connection with the major reforms in the area of vocational schools in both the educational and economic/administrative areas, which has meant noticeable changes in the distribution of responsibility and authority between the players in the system. The principle of management by objectives and frameworks signifies that flexible adaptation of and innovation in training courses in relation to specialised and local needs are combined locally with optimisation of the commitment of resources at the individual school. Central regulation is restricted to objectives and other content-related frameworks in decisive, general areas. The objective among other things has been to give free rein to creativity and dynamism at the local level with a view to ensuring more rapid innovation in training courses, better opportunities for adaptation to the students and high productivity. Renewal 51 There is a tradition in Denmark for marked diversity in the system of education and training, based on a Grundtvigian free-school tradition, which means that the users are assured of free choices and that the market mechanism regulates the allocation of public resources, depending on how the students vote with their feet. The 1991 reform of vocational gave fresh impetus to the potential for innovation in the development of structure, content and teaching methods. Management by objectives and frameworks was introduced in 1991 in connection with the major reforms in the area of vocational schools in both the both educational and economic/ administrative areas (...). The objective among other things has been to give free rein to creativity and dynamism at the local level with a view to ensuring more rapid innovation in training courses, better opportunities for adaptation to the students and high productivity. 4) For a detailed presentation of the complete vocational and labour-market training systems in Denmark, see: Nielsen, Søren P., Erhvervsuddannelsessystemet i Danmark (The vocational system in Denmark), monograph, 1995, and Nielsen, Søren P., Erhvervsrettet efteruddannelse i Danmark (Vocationally oriented continuing training in Denmark), FORCE Art report, ACIU, 1995.

4 Figure 1. Vocational management system Occupational renewal Labour-market parties The local pedagogical development work thus becomes a requirement for the schools - the schools are forced to be responsible for the pedagogical innovation themselves (...). The joint (...) trade committees are the transmission link between the identification of needs for new qualifications and the response of education and training to these needs. The principal task of the local committees is to assist the schools in their work of planning and renewing instruction and assisting towards managing the contract between the school and the local labour market. Detail planning and implementation Schools and local training committees 52 Youth education and approval of budgets Parliament and minister Management by objectives and frameworks Detailed management and pedagogical innovation are thus an integral part of the objectives in the VET system, and it is therefore of decisive importance that the scope for creativity and dynamism locally is not limited by new central requirements imposed on the schools. Figure 1. Another major structural element to ensure innovation in training courses is the increasing role which the labour-market parties have acquired at all levels of the system. The bodies setting objectives and frameworks at the central level are the labour-market parties, which have responsibility for technical innovation, the practical parts of the training courses and also considerably increased influence on the school parts of the training courses. The new system of management means that the centrally established, overriding frameworks for day-to-day instruction at the individual school have to be continuously translated and implemented at the individual school. The local pedagogical development work thus becomes a requirement for the schools - the schools are forced to be responsible for the pedagogical innovation themselves; firstly the schools themselves are responsible for the curriculum translation work from training order to syllabus, and secondly schools, because of the market competition situation, wish to attain a profile for themselves in relation to others in order to get customers into the shop. The decentralisation of responsibility for pedagogical innovation has also been sup- ported by changes in occupational selfmanagement. The trade committees have responsibility at national level for renewal in the individual training courses, and it is relatively straightforward today to have new training courses set up or have changes made to existing ones. The trade committees are the transmission link between the identification of needs for new qualifications and the response of education and training to these needs. The procedure is highly pragmatic, and it is still not usual in Denmark to base the planning of on the qualification analyses of industrial sociology. However, most trade committees (and continuing training committees) will claim that they do in fact conduct qualification analyses - in practice. When a need for change has been identified, the normal procedure is to set up a TF (technical trade) group, which is tasked with formulating the occupational profile the training course is to cover. TF project groups of this kind will normally involve management and employee representatives from spearheading companies. External experts are often brought in. Firms and teachers from the schools play a major role in this process. The next phase is the formulation of what are known as TP projects (technical pedagogical projects), where the job profile description on the basis of ministerial guidelines is transformed and forged in educational terms. The Ministry then codifies the training course by sending out an order based on management by objectives and frameworks to the schools. Detailed planning and execution take place at school level, and here the advisory local training committees have acquired influence over the closer organisation of the instruction. The trade committees are the transmission link between the identification of needs for new qualifications and the response of education and training to these needs. The principal task of the local committees is to assist the schools in their work of planning and renewing instruction and assisting towards managing the contacts between the school and the local labour market. One or more local training committees is appointed for each school, which together are to cover the

5 training courses the school offers. The majority in each committee is to be made up of representatives of the organisations which have a seat on the trade committees concerned. It is accordingly characteristic of the area of AMU training that the control of the content and provision of AMU courses is entirely dealt with by the labour-market parties - which is quite uncommon in the European context. This takes place in an expanded system of councils and committees which all have joint representation of the two parties: a top-level training council, a large number of continuing training committees for the various sectors - and at the individual AMU centres boards and local training committees. As in the VET system, very close contact with firms is thus built into the structure, allowing adaptation to the needs and requirements of the firms. The ability of the Danish system to make effective provision for newly developed job functions in trade and industry and to convert the needs for change noted into practical instruction - in terms of content and teaching methods - has been greatly improved with the transition to management by objectives and frameworks. However, this is also systematically supported by the large quantity of pedagogical research and development work which for several years has contributed towards changing the pedagogical approach from being managed in detail and dominated by skills training to making a commitment to the development of new forms of instruction which are geared towards teaching the participants problem-solving, work organisation, checking their own work etc. The systematic R&D effort is controlled centrally by two means in particular. It was ensured through the insertion of Section 67 into the Vocational Education and Training Act (1991) that a sum is set aside annually under the Finance Act to cover analysis and forecasting work and research and development work relating to courses covered by the Act. The schools (and the trade committees) can seek funds centrally for pedagogical development work, which many schools are increasingly availing themselves of. The Vocational Schools Department (ESA) annually sends out to schools a list of areas of effort, indicating procedures and criteria. The transfer value of projects is accorded great importance; local planning of instruction, on the other hand, typically has to be financed by the schools themselves. It is possible to apply for subsidies for projects which serve to clarify the needs for changes in the structure and content of training courses through analysis and forecasting work etc., development of instruction in the vocational schools, planning, evaluation and reporting of experiments, including experiments pursuant to the provisions on experimentation in legislation.5 The R&D programme had a budget of DKK 50 million in A very great commitment is made to the quality and usefulness of the approved projects - the content has to be capable of being utilised, provide inspiration and move the vocational training courses in practical terms. The control and procedures for publication of the programme are supported through guidance material and bibliographies from the ESA.6 The programme is very large: around 200 projects are carried out annually. The second means is the Experimental programme which is based on Section 68 of the Vocational Education and Training Act (1991), which allows experiments involving deviations from the current VET Act, and which indicates the frameworks for experiments with educational activities. DKK 30 million was available for local experimental activities in 1995, and the ESA has sent out a programme showing particular areas in which efforts are to be made. Pedagogical experiments are to be concerned with the actual instruction of students. This programme has two main areas: development of entry routes to the vocational training system; 53 The systematic R&D effort is controlled centrally by two means in particular (...) analysis and forecasting work and research and development work relating to courses covered by the (Vocational Education and Training) Act (and) the experimental programme (...) Local development projects as an element in a strategy for pedagogical renewal are decisively important in the Nordic countries - and not least in Denmark. 5) Ministry of Education. Vocational Schools Department. FoU-programmet 1995 (R&D programme 1995). December ) Vejledning for projektgrupper (Guidance for project groups). Vocational Schools Department. Vejledning om rapporter og publicering i FoUprogrammet (Guidance on reports and publication in the R&D programme). 2nd expanded edition. Vocational Schools Department 1995.

6 Two main models can be adopted when trying to understand how the process takes place - a mediation model and a learning model. The Danish model for pedagogical innovation in VET, (...) is well on the way towards being dedicated to a learning model of this kind for pedagogical development - or to be accurate is perhaps closer to finding its way back to its roots in the historical tradition. Denmark is characterised by having relatively high general unemployment for the population as a whole, but youth unemployment is not far above the general level. 7) Christensen, A.A. et al., Eleverne som medarbejdere på egne læreprocesser (Trainees as contributors to their own learning processes). Ministry of Education, ESA, ) For a broad introduction to responsibility learning and new learning processes in vocational education and training courses in the nineties, in theory and practice, and based among others on the Norwegian AFEL project and the Australian PEEL project, see also: Læreprocesser i 90 erne - Ansvar for egen læring? (Learning processes in the nineties - Responsibility for your own learning?) Conference report, SEL, June development of the vocational training courses - structure and the individual training courses. The two programmes make possible a conscious and systematic effort on pedagogical innovation through experimental and development work in a decentralised, school-based interaction with the central level. Experimental and development work as a driving force behind pedagogical innovation? Local development projects as an element in a strategy for pedagogical renewal are of decisive importance in the Nordic countries - and not least in Denmark. The idea that responsibility for content-related and pedagogical development to a very great extent must be based on giving schools and teachers as free a hand as possible and backing them up with state funds without rigid control has a long tradition in Denmark. Regardless of the fact that vocational training courses in an institutionalised form are older than the Grundtvigian tradition, there is no doubt that vocational training courses to date have also been affected by the living word and the tradition of folk high schools; it should be noted that some technical schools over the years have been known as craftsmen s high schools. There is a great deal to suggest that R&D as a strategy for change will acquire a strengthened role in the development of vocational training courses in Denmark. There are both opportunities and some problems related to this model. It is necessary to differentiate between the actual development projects and the subsequent phase of mediation. How can we ensure that the results of the projects are made known, so that others can learn from them? Disseminating experience from development projects is a far more complex process than is immediately assumed. It does not take place automatically and does not proceed in a straight line, but is rather indirect. An interesting example of this is the theoretical and experimental work of the Norwegian Ivar Bjørgen on responsibility learning, which has had a great impact in Denmark but has made less of a mark in Norway.7,8 However, on the basis of the favourable experience of responsibility learning in vocational training courses in Denmark, a joint Nordic R&D project is now to be conducted under the Nordic Council of Ministers - with the particularly eager participation of Norwegian specialists in vocational teaching methods! Two main models can be adopted when trying to understand how the process takes place - a mediation model and a learning model. The mediation model assumes that there is a given message centrally, which is tested through controlled experiments and finished models, the results being implemented after the experimental period. An example of this is perhaps the principle of Modellversuche known from Germany, accompanied by Begleitforschung. The problem here is that this form of experimentation does not provide particularly good opportunities for local adaptation, and that reform processes of this kind take a relatively long time. Opposition is often also encountered from the participants. The learning model is based on the fact that the primary aim of the development projects is to acquire experience with new solutions and forms of work. There obviously has to be agreement on the need for changes, but there is openness here towards different solutions within some overall frameworks. The learning will often be concerned more with the procedure followed than the practical solution, and it will often be selective. It will be possible for an effective spread to be ensured between establishment of contact networks between the experiments and other potentially interested groupings. Networks of this kind must provide scope for the exchange of experience between the local and central level, but what is most important is the direct contact between local groupings at the local level. It is characteristic of the development requirements for the vocational training

7 courses that we are confronted to a greater extent with problems to which no-one really has clear answers. The dissemination of ready-made standard solutions may prove unfortunate with regard to problems of this type, because it takes time and the solutions easily become outdated. A strategy based on a learning model will probably be most effective to ensure continuous renewal and the development of new, locally adapted solutions to problems to which no-one really knows the answer today. The Danish model for pedagogical innovation in VET, described in structural terms above, is well on the way towards being dedicated to a learning model of this kind for pedagogical development - or to be accurate is perhaps closer to finding its way back to its roots in the historical tradition. The vocational education and training system and the labour market The quality of a vocational education and training system stands and falls with its ability to qualify young people - and to an increasing extent adults - to find relevant employment, obtain further training for themselves or enter a lifetime continuum of learning at work and in education. An assessment of the quality of the Danish VET system on the effect side will obviously differ depending on the purpose, but youth unemployment in particular can be taken as the best indicator of the quality of the system looked at generally. Denmark is characterised by having relatively high general unemployment for the population as a whole, but youth unemployment is not far above the general level. In most other EU countries, youth unemployment is substantially higher than general unemployment. The explanation most often given for the relatively strong position of young people in Denmark, Germany and Austria is the form of vocational education and training which exists in these countries, with apprenticeship schemes and a high degree of workplace-linked learning processes. This is considered to improve the position of young people in the labour market in several ways: the close link between school and work gives young people a more realistic idea of the requirements the world of work makes; proximity to practice and the interaction of school and firm increase the motivation of young people to learn the theoretical and general subjects in VET courses as well; as a result of the apprentice relationship, young people and employers acquire contact with each other, which assists future recruitment. learning partly at school and partly in a firm means that young people learn about the new world of work directly; they gain access to the operation of new machines and new technology and acquire practical knowledge of new production concepts. The OECD analysed and evaluated youth in Denmark in 1994, and the examiners report, Review of Youth Education Policy in Denmark, dated 28 Feb. 1994, states that: Danish Youth Education is well organised and well provided for. It leads very many young people to marketable qualifications and fulfilling education. It is well differentiated to cater for many and varied needs, it seeks comprehensive provision and coverage, and it offers wide ranging opportunities to many people. While the OECD examination in general commends Danish vocational education and training highly, there are some reservations regarding the overall principles of control in the system. The Ministry of Education is divided into two many departments, and there is no single authority which has full control over any part of the youth education system. The freedom which the vocational schemes should have as a result of management by objectives and frameworks is not real. Despite the decisions to establish a decentralised system: where central management should limit itself to fixing objectives and frameworks, 55

8 where a direct link was created between the number of trainees, the number of school weeks and financing through the taxi fare system, where direct competition was created between the institutions, and where free choice was created for the users, experience shows that the schools have not acquired sufficient autonomy to determine freely for themselves the expenditure priorities and to organise teaching. Both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education have found it difficult to comply with the requirements ensuing from deregulation. The Ministry of Education in particular has found it difficult to abstain from the traditional detailed control on the input side linked to old procedures and practical forms. The reason is probably that the Ministry has not developed new forms of control by which it is possible to use result and effect objectives as quality parameters in assessing the capability of the system. An overall quality action plan was formulated in the Ministry of Education in the summer of 1995, in which a number of criteria and indicators of quality are formulated, linked to both processes and results. It will be interesting to monitor the consequences of this quality project with regard to further decentralisation of the system. 56